


Across the Sea of Stars

by justanotherrollingstony (adoctoraday)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Airships, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Angst with a Happy Ending, Feels, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24653485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adoctoraday/pseuds/justanotherrollingstony
Summary: His heart pounding in his chest, Tony looks around wildly for Steve and sees his husband standing tall at the helm, muscles quivering as he forces the ship to stay on course.He always knew they’d go down together.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 38
Kudos: 106





	Across the Sea of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> There is a moment in this fic where you might think Steve and Tony are going to die, I promise, they aren’t! 
> 
> The song that inspired this fic is “across the sea” by the sweeplings and I suggest you listen to it (possibly on repeat while you read lol)

Cannon fire thunders through the air, louder than the hurricane they’d rode through last month, the shouts from the crew creating an unholy cacophony that rings in his ears. 

“Captain!” 

It’s shouted over and over again as his men look to him for calm command, a port of easy seas in a tumultuous storm. 

The groaning of the steel hull of the airship fills the skies, the deck shuddering beneath his feet as The Avenger is pummeled with fire from The Hydra. 

He’d thought their captain and crew long dead—he’d watched the black as night airship fall from the sky all those years ago, burning as it fell into the seas below. 

Apparently, he’d been wrong. 

His voice is hoarse from shouting commands, from trying to keep the crew calm and on task even as the smell of burning flesh and death fills the air. 

One voice rises above the rest, “Steve!” 

He turns and feels his heart skip a beat as his beloved rushes toward him. A smile grows on his lips despite the horror around them and when he reaches out and clasps a hand to the nape of his neck, he can feel the sweat and engine grease on his skin. 

Steve’s fingers tighten minutely as his beloved gives him a trembling smile and winds his fingers through the bloodied and torn fabric of his uniform. 

“The engines are failing,” Tony murmurs, “they’ve taken too much damage, there’s nothing I can do up here. We need to land.”

Steve looks around them at the controlled chaos and wonders if this is the end of them, their crew, of  _ everything _ . 

“Steve!” 

He nods and looks back to Tony, “We won’t be able to outrun them to land,” he murmurs, wincing at the dying scream that pitches off sharply into silence. “Our shields are down and our engines are dying. It’s time to abandon ship.”

Tony shakes his head, determination bright on his face, “No! Steve, no! It’s the Avenger! We can’t!” he whispers hoarsely, voice thick with emotion. 

Steve smiles sadly and reaches up to cup Tony’s face, thumb caressing the streak of grease on his cheek. Gods how he loves this man. 

“It’s just a ship Tony.” 

Tony stares wistfully back, lips trembling for a moment before his shoulders square and his jaw sharpens with determination. “Then let’s make them regret the day they took on the Avenger,” he vows. 

Steve grins, sharp and fierce, “What did you have in mind?” 

* * *

  
They deploy the escape boats, the brand new shielding and invisibility cloaking working like a charm so that the remaining crew can slip away, right under the Hydra’s nose. 

Tony puts the Avenger on collision course and flips all the switches open, overloading the palladium core twin engines till they’re whining so high it makes his teeth hurt. 

He grabs the sepia toned photo of his mother from his cabin and the one of he and Steve, taken just after they’d bought the Avenger and began this wild ride through life together. 

He feels the ship judder underneath him, groaning and wailing like a dying man and his heart breaks for a moment because even if she is  _ just _ a ship, she’s the first place he’d felt at home his whole life, the place he’d met and fallen in love with Steve. 

Feet sure and quick, he runs up the stairs to the main deck, just in time to see the bow of the Avenger slam into the Hydra. The vibranium tipped shielding tears through the other ship with a screeching like a banshee, a howl of hell. 

His heart pounding in his chest, he looks around wildly for Steve and sees his husband standing tall at the helm, muscles quivering as he forces the ship to stay on course. 

He always knew they’d go down together. 

Cannon fire from the Hydra tears into the deck of the ship, sending up shards that whizz past and embed themselves in his flesh, and suddenly Tony is deeply grateful for his clockwork reactor heart. 

He crawls from where he’s been thrown and stumbles his way up the stairs to his husband, spitting out blood that coats his mouth. 

Steve stands strong, like an oak tree beside a river, refusing to move as he stares down death and it’s many tentacles limbs. It’s not the first time he’s done it and Tony doesn’t plan on it being the last. 

He covers Steve’s hand with his as the wail of the ship grows louder, the death throes of a wounded animal. 

Steve smiles tightly at him, grief in his eyes. 

Tony smiles softly, “Darling, come with me,” he murmurs, “Here is where we decide, by the setting sun and rising tide if we stay and fade, or test our reach.”

Steve’s lips tremble and tears fall down his cheeks, fear in his eyes. 

Tony squeezes his hand lightly, “Beloved, come with me.”

Steve nods and heaves out a harsh breath before releasing the wheel and stepping back. 

The effect is immediate; the ship plunges forward, screaming through the hull of the Hydra—a war cry of vengeance. 

Tony holds Steve’s hands as they stand together, sailing into oblivion. 

When it comes, the explosion tears through the many decks of the ship, growing in strength as it ripples outward, heat and destruction and death. 

As they fall through the endless sky, Tony stares at the words carved into the hull of their ship, carved there by both their hands for all to see.

_ Come with me, come be free, come be mine  _

It was silly and romantic and as he holds Steve’s body against the shell of his armor, Tony swallows hard as he watches everything he built with his own two hands turn into fiery rubble. 

It rains down around them and Tony flips in the air so his back is to the destruction, shielding Steve. 

He doesn’t see the debris that strikes them, only knows it’s happened because they’re struck off course and Tony’s head rings like a bell. 

He deploys flaps and slows their descent, watching as a rush of green solidifies into a jungle, vast and lush beneath them. The suit of armor he’d created wasn’t ready for deployment, but if it meant they had some chance at living, he would take it. 

It shines like a beacon in the sky—gold and red glimmering brightly in the sun. 

They tumble into the trees and once again Tony works to protect Steve from harm. He’d taken a blow to the head on their fall down and hasn’t moved since, breath slow and steady. 

Their collision with the dark and loamy earth is hard and Tony winces as he feels something break. Steve tumbles out of his arms and lays beside him, still, bloodied and bruised. 

Through the eye slits, Tony watches as a white blaze of light explodes far above them, the sharp crack of sound producing a wave of rushing air that howls through the trees as both the Avenger and the Hydra are destroyed for good. 

Tears blur his eyes and he chokes back a sob, chest aching as he struggles to breathe properly against the riptide of grief within him. 

He tinkers with the mechanisms for the armor, pleased when it peels off and collapses down into its regular shape—an innocuous block of grey metal that looks nothing like what it was. 

“It’s all gone.”

He turns and finds Steve staring up at the sky, tears cutting marks through the ash and blood on his face. 

Tony shakes his head and moves to cup his cheek, forcing him to look at Tony instead. He smiles shakily, knowing there are tears on his cheeks as well. 

“As long as we have each other, we can rebuild. We’ll find the crew and another ship and we’ll travel across the seas and skies, freedom as far as we can see.” 

Steve smiles weakly and leans up to kiss him, lips rough and tasting of ash and blood and grief. Tony kisses him back all the harder for it, determined to make his mark. 

A loud crashing startles them apart, bodies tense an alert till they see it's a piece of debris from the ship. Tony helps Steve rise to his feet and they hobble over together, curious to see what it is. 

Breath catches in his chest and Tony lets out a sob. 

_ Come with me, come be free, come be mine _

The only thing of the Avenger that's left behind are the words they left there on the hull, in those few lines. 

Steve runs shaking fingers over the fire blasted and warped metal, tears on his cheeks. Tony takes his hand and squeezes it gently, hope glowing like an ember in his chest. 

“Come beloved,” he whispers hoarsely, tugging on Steve’s hand, “come with me.”

Steve gathers the debris into his arms and carries it with them as they walk away from the ruins of their past and into their future. 

They’ll find freedom in the skies once more, taste the salt of the seas beneath them, and feel the misty clouds and waves on their fingertips. 

Across the seas and skies, they’ll float away and not come back, chasing freedom as far as the eye can see, amid the setting suns and the rising tides. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I saw this on Tumblr and I think it's a lovely idea--feel free to copy and paste into your own fics!!
> 
> Emoji Key for those who don't know what to say in the comments!
> 
> ❤ = you wish you could kudos again  
> 😭 = I got you right in the feels  
> 🔥 = this was so hot!  
> 🐰 = it’s so fluffy!


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